Thursday, 21 April 2016

SOLDIER OF CONSCIENCE

Soldier of Conscience

That’s the title of my work in progress,
detailing the adventures of Luke Boniface who at the age of fifteen found
himself among the ranks of Benedict Arnold’s army marching north from Maine
towards the land called Kebec, or, as the French settlers called it, Québec.

Luke, the fourth youngest of the six Boniface
sons, had no real interest in the politics of the day; his reasons for joining
Arnold’s group were twofold, and simple.One was to find his elder brother Isaac, who had left the family farm
and gone north to seek land and a farm of his own.The second was simply to seek adventure.The trail from Maine to Québec was harsh and
dangerous, Luke had been told.This fired
his sense of adventure even more.

The Boniface family farm would pass to
Matthew, the eldest son. Matthew was a
true countryman, placid, hardworking, who loved the land.Isaac was ambitious, romantic, and
adventurous.He had no wish to spend his
life as a labourer on his brother’s farm, so when he heard the land beyond the
Kenebec River was richly arable, and there was so much of it, he decided to
head north in quest of some of that land.In the two years since, only a couple of letters had been received from
him and Luke’s mother fretted over this long silence from her second son.She worried some ill had befallen him.

Luke wished there was some way he could
set his mother’s mind at rest, but he had neither the money nor the information
to go seeking Isaac.Then he heard
Benedict Arnold was coming to speak at the town hall and made certain he was
among those gathered to hear the fiery, fuelled with vigour man .Arnold’s mission was to urge all able-bodied
men to follow him on his march to take Québec City.

There
and then Luke saw how he could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.If he joined Arnold’s forces he was sure not
only to encounter lots of adventure but to seek Isaac also.Naturally, his mother was not happy.With Isaac gone, and Joshua, her third son,
at a seminary, poor Mrs. Boniface was going to be left with only her husband the
dependable Matthew, and her daughters.

Now her youngest wanted to join a ragtag
army and head off through Lord knew what dangers!It is not to be wondered at she was not at
all happy at the prospect of her baby.Luke was persuasive, and in the end was allowed to go.

Had he known just what awaited him on the
arduous march through the dense woods, bitter cold in the winter months, hot,
humid and alive with blackflies and mosquitoes in summer, he would not have
been quite so excited.However, adventure,
danger and excitement a-plenty he did find.Much of it excited Luke’s conscience.Follow orders, or do what to him seemed right?In the end, Luke even found romance… a
romance which set him yet another dilemma.Should he continue with Arnold or – should he follow his conscience?